An Economic Analysis of Blockchains

Arbeitspapier

The blockchain is a technology that goes beyond timestamping, bitcoin and secure financial transactions. The development of an ecosystem around smart connected objects will probably not happen without the blockchain (in one form or another). The blockchain opens the door to the liquification of the physical world, to the economy of real-time micro-transactions and to smart data sharing. However, it is necessary to distinguish between the different types of blockchains, especially between public and private blockchains, because their economic properties are contrasted. Moreover, governance issues in public blockchains seem to indicate that the technology alone cannot guarantee trust.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 6893

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Money Supply; Credit; Money Multipliers ; Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Voting; Proxy Contests; Corporate Governance ; Public Goods ; Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation; Networks ; Industrial Policy; Sectoral Planning Methods
• Subject: blockchain ; bitcoin ; ether ; security ; payment ; governance ; trust ; oracles ; forks ; hash ; smart contracts ; tokens ; smart locks ; technology diffusion ; crypto-currency ; financial privacy

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Waelbroeck, Patrick
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2018

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/176912
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET